How Can I Serve God?
Currently, we’re in a message series which I’ve entitled “Created To Do What?” The basic truth underlying this series is that you and I were created by God with a purpose in mind. God created you to do something special with your life, to do something unique that only you can do.
When you become a believer, God implants a desire in your heart to please God. God gives you a desire to fulfill the purpose you were created to fulfill. The desire of an unbeliever is to please himself first and foremost, but the desire of a believer is to please God first and foremost. If you’re living life with a me-first please myself mentality, you’re headed down a dead-end street, you’ll never fulfill the potential God created you with. But that can change this morning and you can become a God pleaser, you can become someone who serves God.
This morning I want to address and answer the question “How Can I Serve God”? The short answer to that question is to live as Jesus lived. Jesus is our example. When we pattern our lives after Him we will serve God as He did. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just get by in life.I want to be great in the Kingdom of God, I want to be great in God’s eyes. How about you? Here’s what Jesus said to His disciples who also wanted to be great. NIV Matthew 20:26,28 Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. So the key to become great in serving God is to be a servant of others, just as Jesus came to serve others and not to be served. Now this runs contrary to the me-first culture of our time. Jesus is saying that you become great by serving God and others rather than serving yourself.
Now for a lot of people this is a scary and frightening thought. I hear it nearly every week from people and it basically goes like this. “My life is in such trouble that I’ve got to look out for myself first. I don’t have any time or resources to help anybody else, in fact I’m so busy taking care of myself that I don’t have much time for God or the church either. Maybe when I pull myself together, I’ll have time for God and serving others.” People are basically afraid that if they give to God and others that they’ll come out on the short end of the stick and their stick is pretty short to begin with. If you’re one of those people this morning, here’s what God says to you “Just close your eyes and jump into serving me and others and see what happens. See if your life doesn’t change for the better, don’t be afraid just jump in.”
So today I challenge you to make a decision to just jump into all that God has for you in serving Him and others Just jump in.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 24, 2006 message entitled How Can I Serve God?
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Thank you. That was fantastic. Very inspiring!
Thanks, Pastor!
I needed to write an essay today about sreving God with my job and money…and that helped me a lot!
God bless you,
Samantha Vitena
–Brazil
Wow that was amazing thanks brother!
Amazing and m still hungry for more!
I am a very keen philosopher and recently had a religious experience which has turned my views around. I definitely think ‘serving’ god is the prime difference between religious and non-religious (including humanist) people, and may be why religious people tend to be happier (they have a sense of purpose).
Thankyou for your concise and beautiful words.
Pastor Dan,
I think you hit God’s mark for this. Most pastors will just tell their listeners to help out at church. While that may help keep things rolling along at church, this is not what the Bible asks of us. God has a specific assignment for each of us:
http://thebigpicmin.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/serving-god-finding-our-assignment/
Wonderful! Thank you!
Thank you so much! That’s all I wanted to know! =) Simple and understandable. God bless. Go in Christ!
Pastor Dan,
The LORD bless you for this mind stirring message. The Holy Spirit convicted my soul ” You are far from serving God”. I was looking for answers as to- how to serve God. Your message has ministered to me in making myself available to serve God with everything that I have.
Amen-Rose.
Pastor,
I went into google.com and just typed in “How to serve God?” and I came to this blog. well the reason I did that is because I just quit my job, a very well paying job as an account executive in a major US corporation, but I felt God’s calling. I felt it deep in my heart, and I could not disobey. Just to give you a quick background information about myself, I served in the US Marines from 98-02 and I’ve always had a passion for helping people and even give my life for others. I love this country and everyday since we’ve been at war I carry a heavy load on my back when I hear a Soilder, Airman, Sailor or Marine die. Well two weeks ago I went to a spiritual revival in Bogota Colombia, and wow let me tellyou that was the most precious experience in my life. I can say God’s cloud was there and he talked to us just as he talked to Moises; face to face. There were over 20,000 people from all over the world claiming God’s prescense. I held the US Flag, and it seemed I was the only one with a big US Flag so many gathered around me while we prayed for the nation. I began to pray for the troops, our US Leaders, economy, president and I understood that interciding for those young men and women is alot more effective than me being there with them. Whatever the reason, whether the war is right or wrong they are dying. Well it was here, in this experience where I had to come back and resign my job and begin working in really making a difference. There’s alot of work to get done, and those who say no one is hiring, well God is. You don’t need a bachelors or a masters not even a high school diploma. You don’t need experience, or any sort of skills. But there is one requirement; A WILLING HEART.
As I said earlier, there’s a lot of work to get done and not that many people willing to do it. So I challenge anyone who might be reading this blog to pray and meditate on what God has done to me, maybe he wants to do the same with you.
Pr.Dan, I thank you for your devotion and I ask that if you have any spiritual advise on this, I’ll be more than glad to hear it and pray on it.
Thank you
Your message is so uplifting and timely. I do serve God by ministering to people living with hiv/aids, which includes feeding them, bathing and clothing them and above all giving our time to fellowship with them. This are a people who no one would love to look at. We dont want people to die lonely, at least we make life more comfortable in their last days. Thank you and we invite all who want to serve God.
Pst,
Am from Nigeria and l realy appreciate your definition on how can l serve God, what God required from man. Love! Love!! Love!!! if only practice according to the will and commandment of God as said the world will be a better place to live in and eternity is sure.
Thank you for the teaching God will continue to Bless you and empower you the more in His wisdom.
Pastor,
I thank you so much for your answer and i pray to God to contineully revelling his self to you with good words so that you may comfort people;s heart,
Stay blessed.
2 God b de glory. Hw great it is 2 serve Him. God blez u so much
4this is so amazing…im just a 16 year old..but i really appreciate this so much….
I am from Ethiopia; i just got a phone call from one of my cousin from Ethiopia. When I ask her how is life there, she said, her life is full of peace and she is serving our God. And I told her that God is the one who gives peace no one else. After I hang up the phone I start questioning myself how can I serve my God? Like one of our brother said I went in to google.com and typed in “how can serve God?” and it took me to this blog. Honestly it is so amazing what I read; now I know where to start to serve our God.
Thank you,
How do you serve God and pay your bills, especially when you have many financial obligations? I’ve been trying to figure out how to be a servant to God. But when you have to pay bills–and some financial obligations such as child support, alimony and student loans cannot be dissolved in bankruptcy–it makes it much more of a challenge to serve God. How do you serve God, put food on the table and take care of all these financial obligations? You know, if you get sick, stop working and can’t pay alimony, you can go to jail. I don’t think you will be too happy if you go to jail. I hear story after story of people who went to jail because they couldn’t make their alimony payment. And student loans can balloon to the point where it’s almost impossible to ever pay it back. If you’re spending time as a servant, and you got bills to pay that can never be dissolved in bankruptcy, how do you do it? The bills never end. And they can come in and garnish your salary, take your car or put a lien on your home. What do you do? Pay your bills or serve God? I want to serve God with all my heart, and as I’ve been doing it, I’ve noticed there were days when I had no money, no food and a sheriff coming to my door with a summons due to a breached financial obligation. I think God has a better plan for my life than that. How do you serve God and pay bills, without getting sued, without going to jail and without going hungry?
After reviewing what I wrote, I want to confess that I’m still going to serve God, even in the midst of adversity. But it’s more challenging that way. It’s too easy to say your going to serve God when life is going great. It’s harder to serve God when you’ve come to the end of your rope. But God does give hope to the hopeless. I’d rather serve God in a hopeless situation than not serve Him. You don’t know what you believe until you are put in a seemingly hopeless situation. In those times, your actions will determine what you really believe. I may not have the answers, but I will serve God, even if everything seems hopeless.
I don’t have all the answers for your situation, but I know that God does. I’m glad that you’ve decided to keep on serving God and putting Him first. He will show you the way through your difficulties, one step at a time. Even thought everything may seem hopeless, with God, there is always hope.
I always like to serve GOD,but some time in me ifeel not satisfied.
please i need a help to con tune serving him the way it purpose to be. thank you for your word on how to serve GOD but i still need more.
i notice that i am cell to serve him. but many circumstances has been stopping me please i need your advice.
THANKS, REMAIN BLESS.
I love your message on serving God. I have been thinking of ways for myself and family to serve. We are in a awesome church with many ways to serve,I think we will do what you said and just jump in.
Thank you, Ava Denise
….i appreciate that, we have to serve God. I love you all and might God bless you.
Do you preach repentance? ( which means change) The reason I asked I’ve seen and heard that all you need to do is just believe and act like the world.
I preach repentance every Sunday, turning from your sin and putting your faith in Jesus Christ. Not sure where you’ve heard that all you need to do is just believe and act like the world, but it’s not true. True believers will not act like the world. The Bible teaches that if you act like the world, you are not a believer.
I like your web site
But the question still is not addressed. How can i serve God? You, the pastor, answered it as: live as Christ lived. That’s not an answer at all. Can you please give us a direct, specific answer. How can I serve God? I want to know. I’m perhaps asking that question because I’ve started to “live as christ lived.” But there’s got be more to “serving God” than a a mere lifestyle change.
Serving others often takes faith and commitment, but it’s such a blessing to use the gifts that God has given you to help those in need.
Great thoughts, thank you!
I came across an article this morning which got me looking for this topic. ‘How can i serve God’ . I have heard people say that one of the important ways of serving him is by joining a department in the church, is that true? Does serving God also mean not using jeweleries, not using artificial things attached to your hair and devoting ur time to him? What is your view on this, Pastor? However, i love your writeup, its inspiring. God bless you sir.
Everyone asking how do I serve God, he told us in the bible! Jesus is our model, the only perfect person. He gave food to the hungry, healed the sick, preached the gospel. I know its hard to translate that into modern times, we cant all quit our jobs and wonder around preaching but try to always help. If someone looks hungry, feed them. If someone is sick, take care of them. If someone ran out of gas, fill up their tank. If someone is a dollar short, pay it. Shovel someones driveway. Most of all, live the word and spread the gospel. You dont have to preach all day but you can tell your friends about God. Live righteous and you are serving God, you are light for other people to see! My life was terrible before God. Drug addiction, jails, stealing, robbing, lying, I was empty. I saw a preacher on tv that got through to me and i repented. I didnt change over night it was gradual. I quit getting high, over time quit lying, quit having sex with women, and tried to stop sinning. I fell back into sin from time to time but ever since that night 2 years ago God has been walking beside me leading me in the right direction. Im so grateful to Him for his love and he never gave up on me. The last commandment Jesus said was to love each other as he loved us. Helping other pleases God. God understands if you have to work, donate a night a week to feed people or a saturday to habitat for humanity. Do what you can, im sure an hour of a busy persons time means just as much to God.
I’m glad to stumble upon this blog post. Although I have been walking with the Lord for 7 years now, I haven’t done much serving. God has been nudging me in the past 2 years that I need to get more involved in a ministry, so I’m seeking where to start.
Pastor Dan,
This current series of messages is truly exceptional!!
How can we serve God when he needs nothing from us? We were created to glorify him in all that we do.